FB Post: Man Reveals Gun, Startles Library Employee

PLATTSBURGH CITY -- 12/15/12

A Plattsburgh Public Library employee was surprised Wednesday after a man approached her at the front desk and said the security gate system at the front entrance wasn't working.  To prove his point he flashed open his jacket to show his holstered handgun.

The employee talked about the incident on her Facebook page.  No one was threatened or harmed but the incident did raise concern after the man left.   The Plattsburgh Police Department was contacted.

In her post she described the man as Caucasian, about six feet tall, in his late 50s or early 60s with a thinning hairline.  He was wearing a green bomber jacket.  While he appeared to be a "nice guy," he didn't announce himself as a police officer or some other governmental agent.

The security gate at the public library is set up to detect library materials being stolen, not handguns, a detail that one would assume a law-enforcement officer would know.

Responding to the Facebook post, someone said they alerted a supervisor at the local Department of Social Services.

I searched for "Plattsburgh Police Department" on Facebook and found two pages, one with that name, another a location page under "Plattsburgh City Police Department."  Neither page provided any news or alerts.  At the PPD Website there was no info about the incident.  The last news release posted was dated 1/20/2012.

So this proves one point: people are getting more of their news from Facebook while some official sources are missing the opportunities online to interface with the community.